The world’s No.5 smartphone vendor suffered a rapid fall from grace in the second half of last year as its phones failed to keep up with Apple’s iPhones and Samsung’s Galaxy range, after sales had grown four-fold and shares more than tripled in the 1.5 years since 2010.

It cut its second-quarter revenue target by 13.3% on Wednesday.

“A bigger softness is from Europe than the U.S.,” chief financial officer Chia-Lin Chang told an analyst telephone conference, blaming the macroeconomic situation and intensified competition in that region.[np-related]

In the U.S., HTC experienced a delay in sales of two new smartphones, the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE, for around two weeks last month due to a requirement for customs inspections after losing a patent dispute with Apple.

“But sales in China are better than we thought; we expect China will contribute a representative percentage to the revenue this quarter,” Chang added.

HTC cut its second-quarter revenue target to T$91-billion (US$3.03-billion) from T$105-billion, compared to T$67.79-billion in the first quarter. It also revised down its operating margin forecast by 2 percentage points to 9%, but kept gross margin at 27%.

The revision includes a one-time charge of T$2.6-billion to facilitate the clearance of inventory for certain products shipped from last year, an HTC statement showed. Without the charge, the revenue would have been T$93.6-billion.

“Given all the things happening in the second quarter here, we certainly hope we can get the right guidance and have a more smooth transition going forward,” Chang said.

But analysts said the cut in forecast overshadowed the outlook for the second half of the year for both HTC and the whole industry.

“If the reason is more because of the macro concern, then it’s not in the control of the company, no matter how good its products are,” said Bonnie Chang, an analyst from Yuanta Securities. “It can even affect the business of Apple.”

HTC’s consolidated sales for May were T$30-billion, down 26.13% from the same month a year earlier. HTC reported a 70% tumble in net profit in the first quarter to T$4.464-billion (US$151.5-million), just below forecasts.

]]>http://business.financialpost.com/technology/smartphone-maker-htc-slashes-second-quarter-sales-target/feed0htc-smartphoneReutersRIM, HTC, ViewSonic sued by Nokia over mobile phone patentshttp://business.financialpost.com/technology/rim-htc-viewsonic-sued-by-nokia-over-mobile-phone-patents
http://business.financialpost.com/technology/rim-htc-viewsonic-sued-by-nokia-over-mobile-phone-patents#respondWed, 02 May 2012 15:37:01 +0000http://business.financialpost.com/?p=170006Nokia Oyj said it filed patent-infringement lawsuits against HTC Corp., Research in Motion Ltd. and ViewSonic Corp. in the U.S. and Germany over inventions in mobile devices including phones and tablets.

Complaints against HTC were filed at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, which has the power to block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents. HTC and ViewSonic were sued in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, while all three companies were sued in Germany. Nokia said in a statement it claims infringement of 45 patents in all.[np-related]

“Many of these inventions are fundamental to Nokia products,” Louise Pentland, chief legal officer at Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, said in the statement. “Though we’d prefer to avoid litigation, Nokia had to file these actions to end the unauthorized use of our proprietary innovations and technologies, which have not been widely licensed.”

Android, Windows Phone

Nokia has linked up with Microsoft Corp. to make Lumia smartphones that run on the Windows Phone platform, which competes with Google Inc.’s Android operating system. HTC, based in Taoyuan, Taiwan, makes phones for both Android and Windows Phone.

RIM, based in Waterloo, Ontario, developed its own operating system for its BlackBerry phones. Walnut, California- based ViewSonic makes table computers that run on Android.

Samsung Electronics Co. has overtaken Nokia as the world’s biggest seller of mobile phones for the first time, ending the Finnish company’s 14-year run as the global leader, according to market researcher Strategy Analytics.

Research In Motion Ltd. needs more than the cheapest valuation in the communications-equipment industry to lure potential buyers. It also needs a hit smartphone.

RIM of Waterloo, Ontario, said last week it will review options, including joint ventures and licensing agreements, and predicted “continued pressure” on revenue and earnings as its BlackBerry loses market share to Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Google Inc.’s Android system. After the shares fell 77% in the last year, the US$6.8-billion company is trading at a 32% discount to the value of its net assets, the only communications-equipment maker greater than US$5-billion selling at less than book value, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

With Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins saying the smartphone maker would also consider a sale, an acquirer could pay a 41% premium and still buy RIM at the industry’s lowest price relative to earnings. Ironfire Capital LLC says RIM may attract interest from Amazon.com Inc. with its operating system and tablet, while Samsung Electronics Co. may be drawn by the email and messaging infrastructure, said Recon Analytics LLC. Still, the fate of the company — and any takeover — rests on the success of new BlackBerry 10 devices to stabilize customer losses, according to UBS AG.

“It’s easy to say it’s cheap and that somebody’s going to acquire RIM, but it becomes a little bit harder in reality,” Walter Todd, who oversees about US$950-million as chief investment officer at Greenwood Capital in Greenwood, South Carolina, said in a telephone interview. “They’ve had some stumbles from an innovation standpoint. Why rush to catch a falling knife?”

[np-related]

BlackBerry’s Decline

Tenille Kennedy, a spokeswoman for RIM, said the company doesn’t comment on speculation and referred to Heins’ comments last week.

While Heins said on March 29 that a sale would be considered, it’s not the “main direction” for RIM’s strategic review. Heins, who became CEO in January, also said RIM will refocus on business customers and more targeted consumer segments after sales missed analysts’ estimates for the fifth straight quarter.

RIM’s BlackBerry, the dominant smartphone in the U.S. before Cupertino, California-based Apple unveiled the iPhone in 2007, has lost market share in the past three years as consumers turned to iPhones with faster Web browsers and more applications.

While former CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who both stepped down in January, had assured investors the latest iteration of its smartphone would deliver a revival, BlackBerry 7 devices with better Web browsing and touch-screen navigation failed to do so after going on sale last year. Total sales last quarter tumbled 25% from a year earlier as U.S. revenue plunged 57%, RIM said last week.

‘Running Away Faster’

The U.S. decline reduced RIM’s share of the worldwide smartphone market to 8.2% in the fourth quarter from 14 percent a year earlier, while Apple’s share rose to 24% from 16%, according to research firm IDC. Market share for Samsung, the biggest handset maker to run Android, jumped to 23% from 9.4%.

“The competition has more resources, they’re further ahead and they’re running away faster,” James Faucette, a Portland, Oregon-based analyst for Pacific Crest Securities, said in a phone interview. “At some point it will get cheap enough that somebody will buy it. I don’t think it’s cheap enough yet.”

Valued as high as US$83-billion in June 2008, RIM’s market capitalization plummeted to US$6.8-billion as of Tuesday. The stock’s 91% plunge from its peak is the second-steepest in the Nasdaq-100 Index. In the same time, Apple shares have more than tripled, giving the company a market value of US$587-billion.

Getting Cheaper

RIM is now trading at 0.68 times the value of its assets minus liabilities, after falling below book value in November, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Its peers have a median price- to-book multiple of 2.3, the data show.

“I don’t think there’s any urgency to acquire RIM given what’s happened to the stock,” said Todd of Greenwood Capital. “Having said that, it is trading below book value and at some point it becomes attractive.”

The company is also the least expensive in the industry relative to free cash flow and its US$1.16-billion in net income in the last 12 months, the data show.

After annual revenue at RIM fell for the first time in the company’s history last year, sales are projected to drop 16% this fiscal year to US$15.5-billion, according to analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company also posted its first quarterly net loss since 2005. RIM said it will no longer give financial forecasts, in part because of “weakness” in its U.S. business.

Stabilizing Sales

RIM’s Heins is counting on the new BlackBerry 10 operating system to stabilize sales. The first device will come out in the “latter” part of this year, he reiterated last week.

A full takeover of RIM or a licensing deal is “only conceivable once business conditions stabilize and after BB10 devices have proven some success,” Phillip Huang, an analyst with UBS in Toronto, wrote in a March 30 note. “RIM’s future depends on BB10. There is simply too much flux at this juncture for any acquirer to have a good handle of the intrinsic value of this company.”

Still, an acquirer could pay as much as US$18.37 a share for RIM and value the company at only 6 times last year’s earnings, less than all of its peers, which trade at a median of 18 times, data compiled by Bloomberg show. That would be 41% higher than RIM’s closing price of US$13.01 Tuesday.

Amazon as Buyer

Amazon, which began making electronic reading devices in 2007, has “slowly shown the desire to move into consumer electronics,” said Brian Blair, a New York-based analyst at Wedge Partners Corp. Acquiring RIM would allow Amazon to enter the mobile handset and smartphone business, he said.

Eric Jackson, president of Ironfire Capital, said Seattle-based Amazon would be a logical buyer as it looks to shore up its tablet business.

Mary Osako, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said the company doesn’t comment on speculation, when asked whether it would consider buying RIM.

While RIM’s PlayBook tablet initially garnered praise for its hardware capabilities and the power of its operating system, the device was panned by other critics for lacking a dedicated email and calendar program. A series of marketing gaffes and delay in introducing an email upgrade also hurt sales.

Samsung Chasing Business

Amazon’s unprofitable Kindle Fire tablet has been “very underwhelming” as readers switch from physical books to digital, said Jackson. Although sales of RIM’s PlayBook have been lackluster, its software offers “a potentially legitimate operating system for them to look at buying that could help them,” he said.

Samsung, the world’s No. 2 handset maker, may also consider an acquisition to get a hold of RIM’s business email infrastructure and messaging service as the Suwon, South Korea- based company pursues the corporate market, said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics in Dedham, Massachusetts. RIM has 77 million subscribers around the world, many of whom are loyal to their devices because of the free BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging app.

“Buying BlackBerry would give them that differentiation factor of superior e-mail and Messenger,” Entner said.

Samsung is not considering an acquisition of RIM, Nam Ki Yung, a Seoul-based spokesman, said in an email. The company said it doesn’t comment on market speculation when asked if it’s considering a licensing deal with RIM.

‘One-Trick Pony’

HTC Corp., Asia’s second-largest smartphone maker, shouldn’t be ruled out as a buyer of RIM because the company needs to differentiate itself from Android rivals as sales stagnate, said Entner. The Taoyuan City, Taiwan-based company has missed analysts’ sales estimates for three straight quarters because of competition from Apple and Samsung.

“HTC might actually need them more than Samsung does,” said Entner. “They’re a one-trick pony whereas Samsung makes everything under the sun.”

Linda Mills, a spokeswoman for HTC, could not be reached outside of normal business hours.

Even if BlackBerry 10 is able to retain customers, it may not be enough to fix RIM’s problems and attract buyers, according to Faucette at Pacific Crest.

RIM shares fell 9.5% Tuesday, the most since December, on speculation potential bidders are losing interest.

‘Wait and See’

Anil Doradla, a Chicago-based analyst for William Blair & Co., says RIM is more likely to receive interest in a joint venture or licensing deal because competitors won’t want to pay for the whole company.

Matt Thornton, an analyst at Avian Securities LLC in Boston, agrees that investors betting on a sale should think twice.

“I’m sure a lot of people have been kicking the tires, but I think a sale is pretty tough to come up with,” Thornton said in a phone interview. Instead, licensing BlackBerry 10 would be appealing to a company like Samsung to help lessen its dependence on Android, he said.

Still, if RIM becomes a “single-digit stock,” it may feel the desperation to sell and suitors may be willing to take the risk on a full acquisition, said Blair at Wedge Partners.

“RIM, as well as any potential acquirers, are going to watch and see what happens to RIM’s subscriber base this year and how the new version of BlackBerry does this year and whether there’s anything worth owning,” Blair said. “Any potential suitors are going to wait and see how that’s received by consumers. Nobody knows just how bad this could get.”

Apple Inc. won a final patent-infringement ruling that bans some HTC Corp. smartphones from the U.S., bolstering efforts to prove that devices running the Google Inc. Android system copy the iPhone.

The U.S. International Trade Commission’s ban would take effect April 19 and is subject to appeal by HTC and a review by U.S. President Barack Obama that may delay enforcement. The commission said in a notice Monday that it found HTC’s Android phones infringed a patent related to data-detection technology, completing a review of a judge’s findings in July.

The ruling is the first definitive decision in the dozens of patent cases that began to proliferate in 2010 as smartphone makers battle over a market that Strategy Analytics Inc. said increased 44% last quarter from a year earlier to 117 million phones worldwide. Apple has been the most aggressive in its legal efforts, trying to slow the growth of Android devices, including those made by Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC.

HTC, the second-largest maker of Android phones, used its partnership with Google to help transform itself from a contract manufacturer founded in 1997 in Taoyuan, Taiwan, to the biggest U.S. smartphone seller in the third quarter. HTC generated about US$5-billion in U.S. sales last year, according to a separate patent complaint it filed at the trade agency against Cupertino, California-based Apple. That’s more than half of HTC’s US$9-billion in global sales last year.

Among the HTC phones at risk of being blocked from the U.S. are the Nexus One, Touch Pro, Diamond, Tilt II, Dream, myTouch, Hero and Droid Eris, according to Apple’s original complaint.

IPhone 4s, Galaxy

HTC phones accounted for 24% of the U.S. smartphone market in the third quarter, based on shipments, Palo Alto, California-based researcher Canalys reported Oct. 31. Samsung held 21% of the market, and Apple 20%. The market is volatile, and the Apple iPhone 4s that went on sale in October and Samsung’s newest Galaxy phone are likely to change the rankings for the fourth quarter.

Apple contended in its complaint that the HTC phones infringed four patents. Administrative Law Judge Carl Charneski in July sided with Apple for two of the patents: one for a system to detect telephone numbers in e-mails so they can be stored in directories or called without dialing; and the other covering the transmission of multiple types of data. The judge determined that the remaining two patents weren’t infringed.

The six-member commission, a quasi-judicial arbiter of trade disputes with the power to block products that infringe U.S. patents, chose in September to review Charneski’s findings.

‘Destroy Android’

Apple has a second complaint pending before the commission that claims other HTC smartphones and Flyer tablet computers infringe five patents related to software architecture and user interfaces. Apple also has cases before the trade commission and in district courts against Samsung and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., which Google agreed to acquire in August.

The fight can be traced back to a decision by then-Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs in March 2010 to file the HTC case, the first patent complaint by a device maker targeting Google’s Android operating system. Jobs, who died Oct. 5, made it his mission “to destroy Android,” which he said “ripped off the iPhone, wholesale,” according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple founder.

HTC has retaliated with two trade commission cases against Apple, one submitted last year and one in August. HTC lost a preliminary ruling by a judge in the case filed last year, a decision that the commission is now reviewing. The other two cases have yet to be decided. S3 Graphics Co., a company HTC agreed to buy in July, also has two commission cases against Apple, one of which Apple won last month.

Google, which hasn’t been named in any of the Apple cases, denies copying the iPhone and said in a filing that Apple is trying to control the U.S. smartphone market through litigation.

Google’s Android accounts for about 70% of the smartphone operating systems used in the U.S., according to Canalys. Mountain View, California-based Google licenses Android to handset makers for free as a way to further its business of selling display and search advertising on mobile devices.

Google’s share of this year’s estimated US$2.1-billion U.S. mobile-ad market will expand to 24% from 19% in 2010, Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC said Dec. 13. Millennial Media Inc.’s slice may climb to 17% from 15%, and Apple’s will decline to 15% from 19%.

The case today is In the Matter of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software, 337-710, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

]]>http://business.financialpost.com/technology/apple-wins-u-s-patent-case-banning-some-htc-phones/feed01219htcBloomberg NewsRegulator to decide Apple’s complaint over Android on Dec. 14http://business.financialpost.com/technology/regulator-to-decide-apples-complaint-over-googles-android
http://business.financialpost.com/technology/regulator-to-decide-apples-complaint-over-googles-android#respondMon, 05 Dec 2011 22:43:53 +0000http://business.financialpost.com/?p=120494For two years, Apple Inc. has told the world that phones running on Google Inc.’s Android operating system are iPhone rip-offs. Now Apple is about to learn whether a U.S. trade agency thinks its claims have merit.

The International Trade Commission is set to rule Dec. 14 in a patent complaint lodged by Apple against rival smartphone maker HTC Corp. The decision, postponed from the original date of Tuesday, would mark the first final verdict from any judicial entity in Apple’s global patent war against HTC and fellow Android-phone makers Samsung Electronics Co. and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

A ruling for Apple may lead to a ban on U.S. imports of HTC devices, derailing the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company’s trajectory from a small contract manufacturer founded in 1997 to the biggest U.S. smartphone seller in the third quarter. A victory for HTC may help it secure favorable terms in any settlement with Apple.

“In the past two years, HTC has emerged essentially from obscurity by promoting their own brand and high-end phones, and they’ve largely been able to do this by leveraging Android,” said Alex Spektor, an analyst with Strategy Analytics Inc.

HTC generated about US$5-billion in U.S. sales last year, according to a separate patent complaint it filed at the trade agency against Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple. That’s more than half of HTC’s $9.1-billion in global 2010 sales.

HTC sold 24% of the smartphones in the U.S. during the third quarter, ahead of Samsung’s 21% and Apple’s 20%, Canalys reported Oct. 31. The Android platform accounts for almost 70% of the U.S. smartphone market, the Palo Alto, California-based researcher said. There were 120.4 million smartphones worldwide in the third quarter, a 49% jump from the year-ago period, Canalys said.

HTC’s Android phones, introduced in 2008, infuriated Steve Jobs, according to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late Apple founder. Jobs made it his mission “to destroy Android,” which he said “ripped off the iPhone, wholesale,” according to the book.

Apple contends that HTC’s Android phones infringe four Apple patents, including one for a system to detect telephone numbers in e-mails so they can be stored in directories or called without dialing the numbers. The commission is reviewing an agency judge’s findings that HTC infringed that patent and one covering the transmission of multiple types of data, along with two other Apple patents that the judge said weren’t infringed.

The case is one of about a dozen before the commission related to the dispute over Android devices. Microsoft is fighting with Motorola Mobility and Barnes & Noble Inc., while Apple has legal disputes with HTC, Samsung and Motorola Mobility around the world.

A federal judge in San Francisco denied Apple’s request to halt sales of Samsung’s Infuse 4 and Galaxy S 4G phones and its Galaxy 10.1 tablet while a patent case is pending. The judge found that Apple was likely to win on some infringement claims, while Samsung had raised “substantial questions” of invalidity of two of the four patents in the case. The judge still said Apple didn’t show it would be irreparably harmed by Samsung remaining on the market until the July trial.

Apple also has patent-infringement suits pending against HTC in district court, though the trade agency tends to move more quickly.

An Apple victory would mark the second setback for HTC in two weeks at the agency. On Nov. 21, the commission rejected an agency judge’s findings that Apple was violating the patent rights of HTC’s S3 Graphics unit. HTC agreed to buy S3 Graphics for $300-million in July after the judge said Apple was infringing two S3 Graphics patents for video compression.

The commission is an independent agency set up to protect U.S. markets from unfair trade practices. It has the power to block imports of products found to infringe intellectual property rights.

HTC has said it has “alternative solutions in place” to work around the patents if a violation is found.

T-Mobile USA Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. wireless provider, said in an Oct. 6 filing with the trade agency that it has much to lose should there be any limit on HTC phones.

“An ever-increasing majority of T-Mobile’s U.S. customers prefer the Android platform and would be unable to purchase adequate substitutes in the near-term if HTC’s Android smartphones were excluded,” T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG, said in the filing.

T-Mobile teamed with Google and HTC to sell the first Android phone in the U.S. in September 2008, and a majority of its current smartphone sales are devices made by HTC.

Google, which denies copying the iPhone and hasn’t been named in any of the trade agency complaints, argued in a filing that Apple is trying to control the U.S. smartphone market through litigation. HTC’s Android devices “are helping prevent Apple’s iOS from becoming the sole viable mobile platform and thus ‘locking in’ consumers and software developers to that platform,” Google said in the filing.

Apple has argued that it’s not trying to exclude all rival smartphones, only those using Apple inventions without permission.

“Apple is an American company that has poured billions of dollars in research and development and other investments into the U.S. economy,” Apple wrote in an Oct. 17 filing with the agency. “HTC is a foreign company that is free-riding on Apple’s research and development expenditures and resulting patents rather than creating its own innovations.”

There’s no guarantee that the commission will ban the HTC phones should it find that HTC violated Apple’s patents.

Neither T-Mobile nor Google took a position on the infringement issue, focusing instead on the possible import ban. T-Mobile said an exclusion order may undermine efforts to spread the newest generation of phones, known as 4G, even as the Obama administration favors expanding wireless high-speed Internet service into rural areas.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company, which doesn’t sell the iPhone, said it operates “America’s largest 4G network.”

The trade agency’s staff, which acts as a third party on behalf of the public in certain cases, has said that an exclusion order is “unlikely to have any significant impact on the public interest” and demand for smartphones could be met by other companies, including Apple.

It does recommend a limited exception for 4G phones. HTC accounts for more than half of all 4G sales in the U.S., so the company should be allowed to continue to bring in those phones for six months until additional competitors enter the market, the staff recommended.

HTC isn’t expected to retain its top spot in smartphone sales this quarter. On Nov. 23, the company cut its fourth- quarter revenue forecast, citing the weak global economy and competition from Apple and Samsung.

Apple has begun selling the iPhone 4, and Samsung’s newest Galaxy has become its best-selling phone ever, said Spektor of Strategy Analytics. At the same time, Sprint Nextel Corp., one of HTC’s customers, has begun selling the iPhone. Another loss at the trade agency would further undermine HTC’s position, Spektor said.

“The last thing they need is for a non-competitive factor to come into play,” said Spektor, who is based in Newton, Massachusetts. “HTC’s competitors in the Android space would be happy because the Android slice of the pie is less crowded.”

The case is In the Matter of Certain Personal Data and Mobile Communications Devices and Related Software, 337-710, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

TAIPEI — Google Inc will continue to offer support to firms using its Android system that are involved in legal disputes, its executive chairman Eric Schmidt said on Wednesday, as the Internet giant looks to cement alliances in the face of toughening competition.

Schmidt, wrapping up a three-city Asian tour in Taipei, also threw an olive branch to China, with whom Google fell out over hacking and censorship disputes, saying the company “wanted to serve China’s citizens within the limits the government allowed.”

“We tell our partners, including the ones here in Taiwan, we will support them. For example we have been supporting HTC in its dispute with Apple because we think that the Apple thing is not correct,” Schmidt told reporters during his first visit to Taipei.

The support takes the form of information sharing, industry expertise and access to Google’s patents for licensing and legal purposes, Schmidt said.

Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s biggest maker of mobile devices using Android, and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC Corp, are both involved in patent disputes with Apple Inc. Some analysts see the disputes as Apple’s way of attacking the Android system.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was quoted as saying in his authorized biography that he wanted to “destroy” Android, which has become the most popular smartphone platform.

Schmidt’s visit also comes as Asian Android vendors are preparing to release their latest models based on Microsoft’s Windows platform, seeking to diversify and reduce the risk of being depending too heavily on Google.

“Android hardware companies and supply chain are mostly from Taiwan. The main purpose of Schmidt’s trip for this time should be to gain more support and closer collaboration with the Taiwanese here,” said Concord Securities analyst Ming Chi Kuo.

“Taiwanese vendors have been users of Windows operating system in the past, especially the handset vendors, so Google has to come here to get more support for its applications in the tablets and, possibly, personal computers in the future,” Kuo said.

An executive of one Taiwanese company who met Schmidt on Wednesday said he raised concerns over the patent disputes surrounding Android and Schmidt acknowledged the issue .

The executive did not want to be identified because the meeting was confidential.

The previous day, Schmidt, in his second visit to Korea, met executives from handset manufacturers Samsung and LG Electronics, in a move widely seen as reassuring his alliances with handset manufacturers.

Google’s US$12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings, announced in August, raised concerns it may become a key rival of Android licensees.

Schmidt also visited Beijing during his trip. Google closed its Chinese Google.cn service last year after a high-profile fallout with Beijing over censorship and began re-directing all traffic to its Hong Kong server.

In June this year, Google said a hacking attack on its Gmail email service may have come from China, drawing a sharp rebuke from Beijing.

Google is still “having a growing and profitable business in China” with its display and search services, Schmidt said.

“RIM’s market share has fallen below 10% for the first time, and the current outlook for it in the U.S. is certainly bleak,” said Canalys senior analyst Tim Shepherd.

“While Apple can for now get away with not have a 4G smartphone, no other vendor in the U.S. can. RIM must deliver a competitive high-end 4G smartphone in early 2012.”

In February 2010, the Waterloo, Ont.-based commanded 42.1% of U.S. smartphone subscribers with its ubiquitous BlackBerrys, according to data from comScore Inc. However, by the end of March 2011, it controlled just 27.1% of the market

Although RIM appears to be struggling to keep pace with rivals Apple Inc. and devices running Google Inc.’s Android software in the U.S., the company continues to see robust growth in other international markets.

According to Canalys data, RIM’s presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia grew 59% over the same period last year, and 56% in the Asia-Pacific region, driven primarily by the popularity of its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) instant messaging technology.

“But undoubtedly RIM needs to deliver new, fresh, exciting products to the market and increase its innovation and execution if it is going to have any chance of reasserting its position in North America,” Mr. Shepherd said.

“It badly needs to deliver on its potential with its new BBX platform.”

HTC Corp. was the top smartphone maker in the U.S. in the third quarter, shipping 5.7 million smartphones for an approximately 25% share of the market.

Samsung Group Ltd. shipped 27.3 million smartphones globally in the third quarter, making the company the top smartphone maker in Asia-Pacific, Estern Europe and Latin America, a former RIM stronghold.

Globally, Canalys data showed the worldwide market for smartphones grew 49% year-over-year to 120.4 million units in the third quarter.

]]>http://business.financialpost.com/technology/rims-share-of-u-s-smartphone-market-falls-to-9/feed0BlackBerrymatthartleynpFP1103-smartphonesMotorola reinvents Razr for smartphone erahttp://business.financialpost.com/technology/motorola-unveils-droid-razr
http://business.financialpost.com/technology/motorola-unveils-droid-razr#respondTue, 18 Oct 2011 16:40:49 +0000http://business.financialpost.com/?p=102021By resurrecting its most popular brand with the unveiling of the Droid RAZR smartphone on Tuesday, Motorola Mobility Inc. is hoping to revive its market share.

At an event in New York City, the 83-year-old Illinois phone maker unveiled its latest mobile device based on Google Inc.’s Android software: version 2.3.5 or “Gingerbread.” Measuring just 7.1mm thick, company chief executive Sanjay Jha called it the world’s thinnest mobile phone; the same title claimed by the original Razr V3 more than six years ago.

“Our question was, what does it take to make the best smartphone on the planet?” said Mr. Jha during his presentation.

“Not only is [the Droid Razr] a marvel of modern engineering, it is beautiful.”

Also boasting a large 4.3 inch QHD display, up to 9 hours of video playback time, diamond cut aluminum accents and compatibility with advanced LTE (long-term evolution or 4G) wireless networks, Motorola has set the bar high for its latest smartphone.

Motorola continues to bet on Android, which isn’t surprising considering Google shelled out US$12.5-billion to acquire the company over the summer (the deal has not yet been approved by regulators in the U.S.).

“Motorola is looking to capture, or recapture some of that association for this groundbreaking, thin device with a physical look and feel unlike any other device and that is unique,” said Charles Golvin, principal analyst with Forrester Research Inc. “But [the Droid Razr] is not groundbreaking in the same way that the original Razr was groundbreaking.”

When the flip-phone Razr hit store shelves in late 2004, the reaction from competitors was similar to when Apple Inc. disrupted the market when it launched the iPhone three years later.

“That was a unique device for its time and all [Motorola’s] competitors rushed to try and make something similar,” Mr. Golvin said.

More than 130 million people bought a Razr during the four years the device was available, making it one of the most popular consumer products in history. Initial sales managed to rival Apple’s iPod, with 50 million units sold by July 2006.

While the new device will be called the Droid Razr in the United States, it will be known to the rest of the world simply as the Razr when it launches next month. U.S. customers can pre-order the Razr for US$299 starting next week, though the company did not provide a Canadian release date or price.

Despite the radically different state of the mobile market today compared to 2004, Motorola appears to be positioning the Razr against smartphone market leader Apple just as it pitted the original Razr against Nokia Corp. nearly seven years ago.

Also on Tuesday, the company introduced its answer to the iCloud remote-access service Apple Inc. launched last week. Called ‘MotoCast’, the app comes pre-loaded on the Droid Razr, giving users the ability to instantly access files stored on other personal devices such as a tablet or home computer.

“While we know that everyone will be in the cloud at some point, today only about 15% of people store content in the cloud,” Mr. Jha said

“The rest of us store our content on our own devices.”

The Motorola ‘Motoactv’ also debuted at the event; a watch-like fitness-tracking music player intended to rival Apple’s iPod in the portable MP3 market.

Motorola market share has fallen steadily since it was the world’s top handset maker in 2003, standing as of mid-August at number eight with just 2.4% of the global market, according to Gartner Inc.

Yet the Razr managed to rejuvenate Motorola’s position once before. And having remade its most successful device for the smartphone era, Motorola is hoping it can do it again.

“It is not known whether Reuters is purely speculating that Jobs will be in attendance or whether the agency has a source who is familiar with Apple’s plans but with his resignation still fresh, many believe Jobs will be present at the event to provide assurance that Tim Cook is perfectly able to lead Apple and deliver a product or number of products that Jobs himself personally oversaw before his leave of absence.”

“Groupon Inc., the largest online coupon site, may have to settle for a smaller initial public offering as management gaffes, restated results and regulatory scrutiny leave investors leery of owning the stock.”

“HTC held true to its promise to look into the security vulnerability that surfaced over the weekend, an apparent glitch that allows any app requesting internet access to take a peek at a user account information, GPS location, system logs, and other potentially private data.”

“So while you might be upset about paying for two bills for your video rentals from Netflix, unless you are willing to spend more time searching for content, you are probably better off sticking with the service for the time being, at least until the others catch up with their content licenses.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware seeks to halt Apple’s importation and sale of infringing products in the United States. It also seeks compensatory damages, triple damages for willful infringement and other remedies.

Tuesday’s complaint escalates the legal battle between the companies. Apple has accused HTC of patent infringement through its smartphones, and filed several patent lawsuits against the Taiwan-based company in Delaware in the last two years.
Neither company was immediately available for comment.

HTC filed its lawsuit one day after Google Inc agreed to pay $12.5 billion in cash for Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc to gain access to thousands of patents and help protect its fast-growing Android mobile operating system.

That merger, if completed, could put pressure on HTC and other Android licensees, which face the risk of promoting a direct rival.

Google last year developed the Nexus phone with HTC, but sales proved disappointing.

According to its complaint, HTC obtained the patents that it believes Apple is infringing in 2008 and 2010.

HTC is based in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, and Apple in Cupertino, California.

The case is HTC Corp v. Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware, No. 11-00715.